Moon Goddess
by beriadhwen16
Summary: Mara Papillon is a vampire whoes one goal in life is to kill the murderer of her sister. What happens when to do this she must accept the help of a Elf Prince? Love or Revenge? Original characters only. Avidice is good - i have no clue what im doing ;p
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE.~ waiting in the moonlight

The night air carried a chill that swept down to her very bones, the little moonlight that shone down upon the uneven ground before her didn't hamper her eyesight. She shrugged her shoulders as if to shake the cold air out of her bones, glancing at the door to which she was waiting at.

_By the height of the moon in the sky it is easily past midnight_ she thought as she leaned back on the tree just out of the lamplight of the door. How thirsty she was, she could feel the torment of it at the back of her mouth. _I should have fed before I came on this god damn watch, the man wouldn't be out till near dawn,_ she thought _not that that was a problem for me unlike the rest of my kind_.

Trying to forget her thirst she closed her eyes, knowing if the man did come out her senses will tell her. Taking a deep breath she remained as still as possible, meditating. It was a new concept as Akuji showed her it when he came back from his journey. She nearly broke her concentration frowning at his so called journey, 3 years before he came back with yet another of his female 'companions'. Companions they may be – in bed.

The sound of the man appearing stopped her train of thought of bed companions, his blood pounding hard and quick in his body. _He is scared_ she thought as she pushed her body off the tree, _oh well at least he knows his fate and knows that he can't stop it from passing this night._

She looked at the man, he looked around 40, was fat, stunk like a dirty pig pen, and wearing an oversized Cross upon his chest, she wrinkled her nose in disgust. _Why do mortals believe in this? Does he wear it for the sake of his religion or for protection against the creatures of the night?_ In the end it will not help him.

She holds in a laugh as he shakily raised his hand and clasped the cross on his chest holing it in front of him as if to fend off the darkness surrounding me.

"I... I know you are there you cursed creature! In the name of God I banish your evil soul to the deepest pit of hell!" He roared getting more courage the more he yelled, she was nearly impressed if it wasn't for the fact that she wasn't the evil soul here.

~...~

The man looked shakily left and right, he could have sworn he saw the dark outline of a human being out there. Believing he was safe till morning at least he turned only to see a lady dressed in black behind him.

"I believe you are misinformed" The strange women said to him in her silked covered voice that raised the fine hairs on his neck. She was looking at him with her purple eyes which held him in a trance until he realised who she was. His legs suddenly got a rush of energy as he took a step back preparing to run for his life, letting go of his cross.

"I'm not going to hell... You are."

That was the last thing he heard on earth before his throat was cut cleanly and his life blood started pouring out of him.

~...~

Looking down on the body of the rapist, and murder of young children she felt nothing. No bloodlust, no pity, no happiness that this man was dead, just a job done. Kneeling down and wiping her dagger on his rough homemade tunic. She closed his unseeing eyes and looked inside the house. Only when she saw the body of a beaten girl about 16 years of age did she begin to feel angry. _This man died too swiftly for the pain and suffering that he had brought to others_.

Forgetting her rage she turned away from the body of the murderer and young girl and started walking towards the road. Her jobs tonight was just beginning and she still have to feed before returning to her own personal hell.

Glancing once more at the house where the girl laid in her own blood she whispered _"Brisingr"_ as soft as the wind.

At once the house caught fire; it was the best burial she could give the girl in this world of torment. _At least she can leave it, where I am domed to walk forever_. She turned once more to the dark road ahead of her and continued on her way.

_Too much to do and so little time..._


	2. Chapter 2

CHARPTER TWO

She sat still as she watched the sun rising over the mountain, silently watching as the line of light reached her body, and her eyes closed against the brightness as she felt the warmth of the sun on her skin. _This was my one pleasure in my life, the feel of something my people cannot feel – the freedom of just watching the sun rise and feel its warmth_. She worked for one of the War Lords as his assassin, his spy, his 'pet'. In exchange for her cooperation her sister had lived- barely. _She was sick, even her powers didn't help her condition. After mother died when I was only 10, father never returned home after that. I put on shows of my 'magic', a silly thing now I look at it, to keep Faith and myself fed and alive. Then one day Faith disappeared. I remember looking ever where for her, at the markets, the river, the meadow but not finding her, and then while walking home in worry I was taken. _

_Lord Darcy and his minions had taken Faith when she was playing with butterflies in the meadow, seeking to achieve more labour for their house. I was the lucky bonus. _

_Fighting all the way to Lord Darcy's manor had set my future in stone; Lord Darcy was impressed with my fighting nature and decreed that I was to be trained in the art of death and magic._

_The chances of my Lord Darcy being one of the fairy tale 'vampires' are impossible but yet he changed me into one of his kind. _

"_To enhance your killing skill" he had told me as he bit into the main artery in my neck, _she remembered in disgust_. He had already changed a couple of humans into his kind before me. He only chooses the ones that will benefit his rule though and since I was the best assassin and spy I was naturally chosen. This happened when I was 20 years of age, now I am stuck in the body of a young woman for eternity working for the man I loathe. _

Shaking herself out of her thoughts she stood and headed back to the manor, _Lord Darcy would like to see me before he left for the capital no doubt._ She picked up her sword and retied it to her waist and headed in the direction that she just wanted to run from.

~...~

"Mara!! Where have you been?! It is 3 hours past dawn! You know the consequences!"

Mara heard Lord Darcy yell as she approached the manor, looking up to his window she saw him leaning out and shaking his fist in her direction dressed in a bedroom robe – clearly the guard had woke him up noticing her arrival. She sighed; _great_ she thought _extra practice hopefully_.

"I had to fix something up my Lord, with one of the contacts."

_I lied to him; it would not do to have him know what I do at night._ She watched him contemplate her answer in his head, _he doesn't know my contacts and he knows I won't tell him their identities, yet he can smell the stank of death upon my skin and hair_ she mused_._ Approval finally reached his eyes was he nodded at her and walked back into his room, hopefully to sleep.

_Lucky break there_ she thought as she walked to her room in the lower levels of the manor, _my Lords favourite I may be that doesn't mean that I live anymore comfortably then the other slaves_.

Hand on my door, she turned to the sound of running feet; hand upon her sword she looked at who was running down the halls at this time in the morning. She sees a blob of dark hair and relaxes _tis only young John_ she smiles inside, his friendship to her has seen her through many missions and even though she don't show it, John was one of the few delights of living here.

"You shouldn't run through the halls John it mig-" Mara's sentence was cut off as John threw his arms around her and hugged her, reluctally she hugged him back aware of the wetness growing on her top.

"Hey, what's wrong? What's happened?" Mara asks worriedly, rubbing his back and he sobbed into her tunic. The only answer she received was more sobbing.

"John what happened?" she asked him again more urgently.

He looked at her with pale blue eyes red from crying. It shocked her; _John always had a smile on his face for everyone – me in particular_. She searched his eyes and saw pain.

"John, please tell me what is wrong." she asked again gentler.

"It's.... It's Faith..." He cries and hugged her even harder; she could feel the stolen blood fall from her face.

"She... she... I didn't know she was going to do that... she said Goodbye Mara... I didn't think she would do that... I'm so sorry..." John cries harder clutching onto Maras tunic with white knuckles. She didn't say anything, her mind was a blank. they stood like that for a couple of minutes, him red eyed and her dry eyed staring into nothing.

Gently Mara pulled away from John and bent on her knees so they were level, slowly she lifted a hand and wiped his eyes.

"Is she dead John?" Mara asks him, a painful question for both of them but Mara needed to know. She needed to be sure.

Tears running anew he nodded his head and looked down.

~...~

_I will never see her again. That fact - no matter how much I distaste it – is the cold hard truth_. _Unless I somehow get rid of this curse I will never see her in the afterlife. __How I wish I could cry, the pain over the death of my sister, I wish I could run away from this place._

John took Mara to Faith's body; she looked so small in death, _the one thing I cannot follow her in._ Her pale blonde hair was longer than she remembered it, down to her waist- _nearly as long as mine_. There were bandages covering the wounds which she killed herself by. She had slit her wrists it seems. Looking back at her face Mara sank down to her knees and laid her head on Faiths cold still chest. _Why did she do this? I was going to free her, take her somewhere with butterflies just like at home_.

Mara submerged herself in thoughts of her sister; the times they weren't haunted by Lord Darcy, by the blood of Maras victims. Time went pass as she lay there with her head on Faith. Standing up she looked at Faiths face again as to memorise it for the rest of her damned existence. She knew why she had killed herself_, for me_. _She always thought that she was the means as to why I am what I am. I loved her; I didn't care what I was as long as she was alright. _

_Darcy had killed my sister by the worst means; he had killed her with me. And for that, he will pay._

~...~

The decision to leave was immediate_. Faith wasn't keeping me here anymore. Sure Darcy will send a couple of soldiers after me, but that's nothing I can't deal with_. But to be on the safe side she paced in her room, waiting for everyone to be asleep.

Giving up, she went to sit at her dresser. The first thing she sees; sliver white hair all the way done to the middle of her back. _I guess that it fits me considering my views on drinking blood_ she mused, _however it makes people remember me a lot easier and that was always a hard thing to overcome in my spying_. Small delicate features framed with large purple eyes; looking at herself she decided she was quite short compared to other warriors but the right height for a woman. It shocked most men that **SHE** a 'small delicate looking female' can beat them in any fight.

Sighing loudly Mara got up and goes through her trunk. _Where is it?_ She thought as she looked for something in the deep spaces within the trunk.

"AHA! Found you, you sneaky lil thing!" smirking she pulled her cloak, the one thing Faith had managed to get her. _I needed it_, not only for the fact that Faith gave it to her; but for the fact it also heavy laded with concealing spells. It was light green, Faiths favourite colour. She stared at it for a while watching the green material slowly change to gray; the colour of the castle walls.

_That's it; I am going now_ She thought as she threw on her cloak. Walking silently out of her bedroom door she made a short detour to John's room, he was the only one besides Faith that befriended her. _I hope he will be a good boy for his ma_ she thought his ma worked full time after his father was killed by Darcy. Reaching his room Mara drew out one of her beloved blades, the only thing left of value to her and laid it under his door, hopefully he will understand.

"Goodbye John" she whispered as she walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE [50 years later]

"**Oh for goddess sake!"**

Mara tossed her head angrily at the tree before her. It had three nicks cut into the base of the tree, this is the fourth time Mara have seen this tree in 12 hours.

Biting her bottom lip in thought she looked both left and right, the sun was already high in the sky. _Good thing I'm lost_, _it means I can't get any more lost _she thought logically. That fact is probably the only good thing at the moment.

Tossing her sword down at the base of the tree Mara threw herself down on the leaves beside it. _Might as well have a break_ she thought to herself sarcastically. _It's not like I know where I'm going._

"Why didn't I bring a map?"Mara said to no one in particular, _**well maybe that squirrel on the tree opposite**_ a voice in her head replied mockingly.

"GREAT... I'm back-chatting myself. It's not as if I'm crazy or anything."Mara whispered sarcastically to herself. As if understanding her, the squirrel threw a nut at her.

"OW! GET BACK HERE YOU VERRAM SUCM!" Mara yelled at the offensive squirrel that ran into a hole in the tree at the sound of her voice.

"I can drink your blood if I wanted too..." Mara whispered to herself. _**No you wouldn't. Squirrel tastes worse than dog**_**. **

_My charming new friend... and I can't make it shut up_! Mara groaned and hit the back of her head against the tree.

_**That's going to leave a mark and I will have to deal with the headache**_ the voice informed Mara matter fatly.

"SHUT UP!"

~...~

Condor saw a misshapen shape leaning upon the tree, veiled in darkness without even the moon to give him a hint as to what or who it was; even with his elvish eyesight. Quietly he walked over and stood over the unmoving body of a woman. Kneeing to feel if the life still beat in the women his hand gently grazed her neck.

Suddenly a sword was at his throat, Condor grasped as the keen edge lightly cut into the side of his neck. He slowly raised his hands to show that he was unarmed and meant no harm.

"Who are you immortal?"

Condor seemed shocked for a second. How did she know he was an elf? There was only few left in middle earth and they had already begun to disappear from the human's knowledge.

"How do you know I'm an immortal?" He replied back with a steady voice.

The woman frowned at the question, biting her lip she looked at him. Condor stared spellbound into her eyes. They were a lavender colour; he had never seen eyes like that before, even among the elves. They were troubled, he saw, pain was visible even in the dull light of night.

Blinking his eyes away he remembered what position he was in.

"Um... Milady. Could you be so kind as to remove your sword from my throat?" He politely asked. He could feel the blood from the cut she made running down his neck into his tunic.

"OH! Sorry..." she said as she pulled her sword away from his bare throat.

He watched as she licked her lips as her eyes followed the trail of blood that ran down his neck. Suddenly it clicked. Why she knew he was immortal, why she was alone at night, why she had reflexes like an elf.

"You... you're a vampire" He choked out as he feel flat on his back in a hurry to get far away from her as possible. He may be immortal but so were vampires and he wasn't too keen to lose his blood tonight.

~...~

Mara watched as the young man's face contorted in fear. It wasn't unusual but it still hurt. _**You can't blame him**_ the voice said flatly _**you WERE watching his blood drip down**_

_GREAT... My own personal conscience is back_ Mara thought dryly as she sheathed her sword.

"Don't worry, I don't like the taste of blood" Mara said scratchily, she didn't want to admit but seeing his reacting made her disgusted with herself.

"Don't hurt me - WAIT WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The young man asked in shock. Mara watched as his expression transferred form fear to confusion to anger; _wait... Anger? That's different_ Mara thought.

"I said 'Don't worry, I don't like the taste of blood" Mara repeated again slowly. _Maybe he is slow _she thought

~...~

_She... she doesn't like the taste of blood._ Condor was in shock. _But... she is a vampire! How can this be??_

"You are a vampire but don't like the taste of blood?" He asked again just to be sure.

"No... I need blood to survive, but I don't drink human or **immortal** blood." She replied in a matter fact and bored tone.

Condor was flabbergasted.

"What do you drink than?" He managed to ask through the chaos of his mind trying to categorise what she was exactly.

"Mainly animals, I only drink a little and let them go. They survive the loss of blood and then I don't have to kill anything unless ordered to"

"Oh..." Condor was silent for a minute trying to resister what she was saying.

Condor was still confused but decided that being confused wasn't going to help at all. _Better flow with the river than against it_ he thought to himself.

"My name is Condor Brisingr, Milady. May I have the honour of knowing yours?"

~...~

_What a funny Elf._ Mara thought as she watched his face become accepting of her.

_**He has a good voice; my bet is he is a handsome one**_

_WHAT!? _Mara felt the blood flow to her face in embarrassment, _why do you talk like that? WE are night walkers! We can't become involved with ANYONE_

_**True, but WE do walk in the sun; and what's the harm in looking?**_

Mara just didn't reply to that. She suddenly was aware that the man was talking she caught the last part of his sentence

"-name is Condor Brisingr, Milady. May I have the honour of knowing yours?"

_**Naw... see he is so polite and sweet.**_

"Mara Papillon. My name is Mara Papillon"


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

"Where are you heading?" Condor asked Mara. _Mara... Mara Papillon_ he mused to himself.

Mara looked at him with surprise and suspicion narrowing her graze. _I__f looks could kill I would be dead by now_ Condor thought.

After a long minute Mara seemed to accept whatever she was searching for in his graze as she said;

"Honesty, I just want to not see this tree again" She said nodding her head towards the tree she was currently leaning on.

_Once again she has me__confused_ Condor thought.

"Why? Do you not like that type of tree?" He asked concerned. It was his forest she was in, and for some reason he wanted her to like it.

_WAIT. I do not want her to approve of MY forest. If she doesn't like it she can leave._ Condor thought with fury. _What is going on with me today__?_

Mara laughed. Condor half-smiled in spite of himself, she had a laugh like water running over rocks; soft, flowing and musical.

"Oh no, of course not. It is a lovely tree" Mara replied amusement colouring her voice.

"Then why do you not wish to see this tree again?" Curiosity grabbing hold of him.

"I have... OK. Well honesty I have walked past this tree four times. I'm afraid to say I'm lost" Mara slowly admitted looking down as blood flooded her face in embarrassment.

Condor couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

~...~

_**Is he... Is he laughing at us?**_

Mara looked confusingly at Condor. Surely this isn't a laughing matter; she was LOST.

"It isn't funny..." Mara whispered softly.

Condor looked at her with mirth filling his light blue eyes. Mara sucked in a breath; she has never seen anyone looking that happy before.

"Aye. Tis not a laughing matter" Condor said between grasping breaths.

"So why are you laughing at me?" Mara said stiffly.

Condor looked at her sideways, his amusement refusing to fade away.

"Milady, this is my woods. This tree is only 500 yards to the west of my house."

Mara's mouth made an "O" shape as she looked east, this just made Condor laugh even more.

"Nay Milady. West is the other way." He pointed out, he watched as blood filled her face once again. _I like it when she blushes, she looks so adorable._

Condor watched as the blush slowly faded from her face. It was still dark and he could barely make out her face. He stood up and stretched sore muscles. Looking down at her watching him he held out his hand offering to help her up.

Mara looked at his offered hand and slowly accepted it. His hand was bigger than hers but had calluses of one that was an experienced warrior. She could feel his heart beat course through his hand as she accepted his hand.

_He is strong..._she thought as he effortlessly lifted her body off the ground._** For once I am in total agreement with you silverly**_

_Silverly?_

_**Yep. Got a problem with that sunshine?**_

"Where will you stay?" He asked in a husky voice which started Mara a bit, she didn't realise how deep his voice was until now. She shrugged her shoulders in answer to his question. She could feel his eyes wander over her in concern.

"Ok than, get your stuff you will stay with me than." Condor said easily. He could feel her stiffen at the order, suddenly he realised that they were still holding hands. Hastily he let go and bent down to retrieve her sword.

Without realizing he grabbed hold of her hand again Condor began to led them back to his house. _No doubt Cook is in a fuss at me disappearing_ He thought as he stepped over a fallen tree.


End file.
